Which Dog Breeds Are Most Likely to Get Cancer?

(TheConservativeTimes.org) – A new study has shown that there are certain dog breeds that could be more likely to get cancer than others.

Originally, experts thought that the largest breeds have a higher risk of developing cancer, however, recent studies have shown that this is not always the case. According to the new studies, large, but not necessarily the largest, dog breeds do generally have the highest cancer risk. The study was published on Tuesday in Royal Society Open Science and gave much insight into dog breeds and their relation with cancer.

This study helped researchers to understand how cancer starts and how it’s initiated; it allowed them to see how specific health concerns are related to dog breeds. Leonard Nunney, who is an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Riverside was the lead author of the paper describing the study.

They first stated that for humans, the bigger the body gets, the more likely you are to develop cancer. This was originally thought to be the case for dogs as well.

Nunney said, “You have things that range in size from a chihuahua up to a mastiff, or a Great Dane. So there’s a huge range of size.”

He continued by saying that their discovery proved that the big dogs actually are less likely to get cancer because they don’t have the lifespan like other breeds do. Essentially Nunney says that these dogs don’t live long enough for cancer to develop or for it to become a problem.

Flat coat Retrievers, Bernese Mountain dogs, and Westies are all the most prone to getting cancer, according to Nunney. They also said that Terriers, especially Scottish, have a higher likelihood of developing cancer than they previously thought.

With this all being said, the findings show that not many breeds are prone to getting any sort of cancer, which is good. Nunney also said that the study can help in the future when treating dogs with cancer and how they react to particular forms of cancer.

He ended his statement by saying, “Dogs are an extremely good model for understanding the genetic changes that may lead to a higher susceptibility of specific cancers.”